Sunday, May 03, 2015

Jimmy Carter's peacemaker

The [former] president, who has been visiting Israel
and the West Bank, met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas Saturday but didn’t meet with Netanyahu or President Reuven
Rivlin.

He told reporters that he didn’t ask to meet
with Netanyahu or his government, and never has, because it would be a
“waste of time.” He told Channel 2 in an interview broadcast Saturday
that he requested to meet Rivlin, but the president’s office declined.

Israel officials said last week that Netanyahu
and Rivlin had refused invitations to meet with Carter, who was
described by an Israeli diplomatic source as “a disaster for Israel,”
who holds “anti-Israel positions.”

...

“I don’t believe that he’s a terrorist. He’s
strongly in favor of the peace process,” Carter said of Hamas politburo
chief Khaled Mashaal. He said Mashaal expressed interest in the Saudis
hosting a “peace meeting” and that the Doha-based Hamas leader would
recognize Israel’s right to exist based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

Netanyahu, on the other hand, wasn’t “in favor
of a two-state solution,” said the former president, who orchestrated
the peace accords between Israel and Egypt in 1979.

“I don’t see that deep commitment on the part
of Netanyahu to make concessions which [former prime minister] Menachem
Begin did to find peace with his potential enemies,” Carter told Channel
2.

Anyone want to take bets on how long it will take for Barack Hussein Obama to make similar statements soon after January 20, 2017? #AskHillary!

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About Me

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com